Veronica Loretta “Roni” Stoneman, banjo player, comedian and cast member of the long-running television show yawning, died on Thursday (February 22) aged 85.
Stoneman, known as “The First Lady of Banjo,” was born on May 5, 1938, the second youngest of 23 children born to Hattie Stoneman and pioneering bluegrass musician Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, known for recording of 1925 “The Sinking of the Titanic”. According at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Ernest's recordings later led executive Ralph Peer to schedule studio dates in Bristol, Tennessee to record Stoneman and other artists in 1927 – which would include the first recordings for The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.
Roni Stoneman was also a member of the family band The Stoneman Family, which evolved from the band The Bluegrass Champs, which included family members Scott Stoneman and Donna Stoneman. The team won a competition as part of it Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in 1956. By the 1960s, Roni had joined the group on banjo. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the group recorded two projects for Starday Records in 1962 and 1963 and then recorded for MGM and World-Pacific. He also starred as part of the group on the syndicated 1960s television show Those Stonemans.
In the 1960s, the Stoneman family scored hits on the Billboard Hot Country Singles, including “Tupelo County Jail” and “The Five Little Johnson Girls.”
In 1967, the first year the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards were held, the Stoneman Family was named Vocal Group of the Year. Ronnie left the group in 1971 and soon joined its cast Confusion, who worked on the country variety show for two decades as a comedian and banjo player and is best known for portraying Ida-Lee Nagger, the “Iron Lady.” There, he worked alongside artists and comedians such as Minnie Pearl, Buck Owens and Roy Clark. In 2007, Stoneman told her life story in the book By pressing On.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young called Stoneman “a great talent and a strong woman,” praising her legacy in the genre. “For Ronnie Stoneman, known as 'The First Lady of the Banjo,' country music was a birthright and her life's work,” he wrote. “The second youngest of 23 children born to Hattie and Ernest 'Pop' Stoneman, Ronnie was an integral part of a quintessential country music family, longtime players in the Washington, DC country music scene. For 18 years on 'Hee Haw,' she stole the show as both a skilled banjo player and a country-toothed comedian.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/roni-stoneman-dead-hee-haw-star-dies-obituary-1235612618/